


RED

by hereruha



Category: LM.C, SuG (Band), the GazettE
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hunters, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Drama, Eventual Romance, Hybrids, M/M, Smut, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Violence, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-15 08:10:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5777992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hereruha/pseuds/hereruha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only things he knew about his target were his name and status:<i> Shiroyama Yuu, possible heir to the throne.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

Two men were sitting in a dining room, both at the opposite ends of the large table. One of them was in his forties, his long, ash blond hair tied into a neat tail. He had a scar on the left side of his face, going from his ear to his jaw. He could have made it disappear, but he considered it as something to be proud of so he had kept it. His eyes were of a hazelnut colour, though there was a sparkle of gold in them from time to time, proving that he wasn’t exactly human.

The other was a sixteen-year-old boy with slightly wavy, chestnut-brown hair. His dark-blue, with a hint of purple, eyes were framed with a dark charcoal eye shadow and black eyeliner. It was told among the servants as well as the older man’s associates that if someone stared into his eyes, they would be trapped in them, unable to come back. His plump lips were of a natural, rosy colour, but he usually liked to wear some dark red lipstick, though this time he had decided not to as he had a meeting with his father.

“Can’t you at least give me some indications? I only have his name.” the brunet groaned, poking with his fork at what seemed to be a carrot.

The older man rubbed his temples, sighing heavily. He should have known his son would ask for more, after all, it was part of his job to know as much as he could about his targets before going after them. However, in this case it was different.

“Listen, Takanori.”

The small brunet grumbled in response, folding his arms, a slight pout visible on his plump lips. The older man couldn’t keep himself from smiling at the sight, even if his son was slowly getting near adulthood, he still had some childish habits.

“This time is an exception. We really have no idea about his appearance.”

“I don’t get how that’s possible.” retorted Takanori, his eyes slowly turning red due to annoyance.

“First you need to calm down, I don’t want to find another bloodless body somewhere in the house.”

The teenager rolled his eyes and exhaled, slowly regained his composure, his eyes going back to their normal dark-blue colour.

“He’s a noble, an important one, he might become the king one day.” finally said his father.

“So?”

“So he was kept hidden, at least from commoners’ view. The only people who know how he looks like are his family, the few nobles they trust, and the students and teachers from the boarding school.”

The brunet cocked a perfectly plucked eyebrow, seeing no logic in there.

“That’s a lot of people, father.”

“Yes, but those people are either scared of his family, or actually support them. There was no chance for us to get a spy in there. I even asked your mother, but she refused to tell me anything.”

“So why do you send me? I’ll be directly found out, none of them know me. They’ll be suspicious from the very beginning.” frowned the teenager.

“That’s when your mother actually comes in handy.” sighed the older man.

“You do know that she’s not an object, right?”

He couldn’t believe it. His father really was going to use his species this time. He never had to until now, but it seemed like this job was an important one, perhaps the most important one he’d ever have. The only things he knew about his target were his name and his status: _Shiroyama Yuu, possible heir to the throne._

Vampire’s monarchy was quite different from any other. When a ruler died, it wasn’t their child who became the head of the state. There actually was some sort of election, though the only people able to vote were those from the noble families, which was ridiculous according to the teenager. They tried to make it look like a democracy, but it wasn’t even close to that. If he really wanted, the ruler could do whatever pleased him. The nobles respected and trusted him way too much.

“By involving mother you’re putting her in danger.” pointed out the teenager, grabbing his glass.

“It’s not my problem.”

“You’re acting like you despise vampires, but you had sex with one and ended up with a kid half hunter, half vampire.” sighed Takanori before taking a sip of blood.

His father didn’t reply to that. Takanori knew that he shouldn’t have brought that up, but he didn’t appreciate the way his father talked about his mother. He was acting as if she had gotten herself pregnant all by herself, which was seriously dumb of him. And even if he behaved that way, he still had forcefully taken Takanori away from her when the boy was only three years old. The teenager actually was convinced that his father wanted him, after all it was useful to have a child who could give a vampire aura out, it tricked hunted vampires in such a way that they didn’t see anything coming, they were killed before even being able to react.

 _“_ Anyway, I’ll do it, it’s a job like any other.” said Takanori, standing up.

“Good, I still made a file with the few things we could gather, it’s in your room.” replied his father, smiling at him.

“Alright.”

He walked to the door, but turned around just when he was about to open it, thinking about one condition.

“One last thing. The money is all mine, you get nothing from this, I’m seriously risking my life here.” he precised.

The older man nodded, knowing there was no reason to debate on this. His son was right, this job was way more dangerous than any other he had had before. In fact, he had hesitated before accepting the offer that was made to him, he really had. Risking his son’s life that way wasn’t something he took easily. The boy was only sixteen, he hadn’t lived much yet. He was about to send Takanori to a boarding school full of vampires, and even though he knew his son had more vampire features than hunter ones, he had been away from those creatures for a long time now.

The man breathed out heavily, tilting his head back as he rubbed his eyes. If everything went right, Takanori would be away for a year only, maybe even less if he managed to fulfil his mission a bit earlier. What worried him the most was if his son changed his mind. What if he decided to leave the hunters to live as a vampire?


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

The chestnut-brown-haired teenager looked around, slightly surprised to see students roaming around as the sun was at its highest point in the cloudless sky. He was very well aware that sunlight didn’t affect pureblood vampires, yet, he had thought they would have had school during the night for more comfort. Because of their enhanced senses, such as their sight, sun sometimes could be bothering and even sometimes caused headaches. Even him, as a dhampir, could feel it at times.

He had already met the headmaster, the man completely oblivious of Takanori’s true nature. It had comforted him in the fact that he more easily passed for a vampire rather than a hunter. His father always thought that he wouldn’t be able to fit in as he had been away from the vampire community for more than a decade, but Takanori had kept some habits from when his mother raised him, it wouldn’t just fade away because hunters surrounded him.

“Hey, you’re Ruki?”

The teenager looked up hearing the name he had decided to go by in this school. He locked eyes with a silver-haired boy who seemed to be about his height. The boy was widely smiling at him, revealing his elongated top canines. Ruki stood up as he nodded, grabbing the handle of his suitcase.

“I’m Takeru, I’m in your class and the headmaster asked me to help you out in case you needed anything.” he continued, starting to walk.

“I’m late for the start of the school year, aren’t I?” Ruki asked, seeing how all the others were heading to one building with books in their arms.

“Two months, yeah. But I don’t think it should be a problem, if you got in it means you have the level for this school.” replied the other, heading to a house.

The brunet just hummed in response. If one would ask him why he only entered boarding school now, he would answer that he had been home-schooled for health reasons. Of course it had nothing to do with his health, he had been home-schooled because his father wanted him to start hunting as soon as possible, going to school being an obstacle.

Ruki looked around, not really surprised by the architecture of the buildings. Somehow vampires liked the gothic architecture, and this school was completely built in that style. It made him want to laugh, humans, who thought vampires were a simple myth, would have been delighted to see that what they thought was actually true. According to Ruki, this was plain boring. Vampires kept traditions close and tried not to mix with humans or any other species, but it must have been difficult lately with cities growing drastically. Soon they wouldn’t be able to hide in their secret cities, the teenager was pretty sure of that. Maybe that was why they had begun teaching during the day, to slowly adapt to the human’s rhythm. If they wanted to keep on living, they definitely would have to stop being so secluded.

“This is one of the dorm house, students in this one either are our age or one year older.” said the silver-haired teenager as he went up the stairs.

Ruki followed him, not even having the time to glance at what seemed to be a leisure room on the ground floor. They reached the third floor, but as Ruki was about to step forward, Takeru shoved him behind him in a swift move, shooting him a look that clearly meant he shouldn’t say anything for now. The dhampir slightly frowned, but kept his mouth shut. The other was here since he was a child, he knew the place better than a newcomer like Ruki.

He glanced over the vampire’s shoulder to see what was happening. Four boys came in his sight, they were talking loudly and laughing. He knitted his eyebrows as he observed them. Besides one who was taller, they were all around the same height, though still taller than Ruki himself. The taller as well as thinner one had shoulder-length honey-blond hair, he had his arm thrown over a blond’s shoulders. That one had a tissue covering his nose, which made the dhampir frown even more. Next to these two was a raven-haired teenager, and from what Ruki could see, that one had a lip ring on his plump lower lip. Did those guys have a special treatment? The brunet had seen the disapproving look in the headmaster’s eyes when the man had noticed his heavily pierced ear, he even had tried to coax Ruki into taking his piercings off, but that wouldn’t happen. The last student seemed more normal, like the honey blond. He had brown dreads attached in a high ponytail.

Ruki could feel that something about them was different. Takeru was fidgeting in his spot, obviously uncomfortable in the situation they had found themselves. His dark-blue eyes widened as he saw the silver-haired teenager bow when the four others passed in front of them.

“You, what are you waiting for?”

The chestnut-brown-haired boy blinked a few times before understanding that was meant to him. He could hear the venom in the other’s voice so clearly that he wasn’t surprised to see the honey blond glaring at him.

“What do you want?” he asked, his tone showing pure disinterest.

“Who do you think you are to talk back?” growled the other.

Ruki raised an eyebrow, slightly amused by the honey blond who was slowly losing his cool. Now that they were closer, he noticed the tall teenager’s hazel irises, although right now they were slowly turning red.

“Just bow.” whispered Takeru, still almost bent in half.

The dhampir didn’t even look at him, he didn’t need to. From the tremor in the other’s voice, he was sure that he was scared. _So this one is from the frightened families_ , he thought, recalling what his father had told him a week before. He somehow was convinced that Shiroyama Yuu was one of those teenagers who were standing in front of him. It wouldn’t have surprised him that the guy used his ‘ _title_ ’ to make people submit to him, fear him, and now his assumptions were proven right.

“You should listen to Takeru, he knows what he’s talking about.” smirked the honey blond.

“Uruha.” sighed the brunet of the group.

“I’m just telling the truth Kai, the newbie wouldn’t want his first day to be ruined, right?” the called Uruha replied, his smirk still tugging his bow-shaped lips.

Ruki just rolled his eyes, gradually getting bored by the other’s behaviour. What was he trying to prove anyway? He was smirking at him the same way Ruki smirked at his preys, but he didn’t feel threatened at all by the honey blond, actually he had never felt threatened by a vampire before, and that wouldn’t change any time soon.

“What makes you think you’d be able to ruin my first day?” asked the dhampir, smiling defiantly at the other.

“You’re too cocky for your own good, midget.”

“Midget? That’s all you have, beanpole?” laughed the small brunet.

“Beanpole?” frowned the honey blond.

He noticed the raven haired smile slightly, was it that unusual for someone to talk back to Uruha? It seemed like it in Ruki’s eyes, the vampire seemed so full of himself, it almost made the dhampir want to puke.

“Next time you better bow.” huffed the honey blond before leaving.

“Yeah, sure.” retorted the chestnut-brown-haired teenager, smirking at the other.

He grabbed his suitcase handle once again and looked to his right to notice that Takeru seemed to have disappeared further in the hall. He really had been scared. If Ruki had been here to make friends, he would have been worried about him, but he was here to kill the _possible_ heir to the throne, nothing more, nothing less. He couldn’t let himself get involved with all those students, especially that they might end up as his target someday.

He was about to follow him when he was grabbed by the arm. He turned around and locked eyes with the vampire named Kai. That one had dark chocolate brown eyes, and on the contrary to Uruha’s eyes, his only showed kindness, which slightly clashed with his imposing appearance. The smaller brunet tilted his head to the side, gazing questioningly at the taller one.

“Be careful, others already tried to stand up to Uruha, and it never ended well for them.”

He was warning him? He didn’t expect such a thing to happen. The vain honey-blond vampire was his friend, shouldn’t he have had his back instead of warning a new student who just had slightly insulted the other?

“I really don’t want anything like the last time to happen again.” sighed the tall brunet.

“Last time?” frowned Ruki.

Kai looked away for a split second but soon gazed into Ruki’s dark-blue eyes.

“I think you’re not anybody, I know that characteristic eye colour.” he smiled.

The dhampir’s eyes widened, someone knew his mother’s family here?

“Dark-blue with a hint of purple… That’s the Matsumoto family.” continued Kai. “But don’t worry, I won’t say a word. Takeru wouldn’t be so at ease next to you if he knew who you were, so I guess you’re here under a fake name.”

Ruki let out a breath he wasn’t even aware he held back. He really thought for a moment that the other would sell him out to everyone in the school.

“Anyway, your name could save you from Uruha, but I guess you won’t use it.”

“I can’t use it, there’s more to it than you think.” sighed Ruki, still not looking away from the other’s eyes.

Kai softly hummed in response, finally letting go of the small brunet’s arm.

“Just be careful, and try ask Takeru what happened to him.” said the vampire, a seemingly sad smile tugging his thin lips.

Ruki just nodded, not sure of what he was supposed to think about this. He watched Kai disappear in the staircase, without a doubt joining the three others. Why would he stay behind just to warn the dhampir? Vampires weren’t like that, they didn’t genuinely care about each other, they just faked it. So why had this one seemed so sincere and torn as he was speaking to the chestnut-brown teenager?

He sighed heavily, massaging his forehead.

“This is going to be harder than I thought.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's short, but somehow I didn't feel like writing more for this chapter. I had the feeling it wouldn't fit, I don't know why.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

He could feel Takeru’s stare on his back while he put his suitcase in a corner of his room.

“You should have bowed.”

Ruki sighed heavily, shaking his head, as he straightened up. He turned around and stared right back in the vampire’s dark eyes.

“I’m not that type of person.” he replied, leaning against the wall next to the window.

“It doesn’t matter. You don’t want to get on Uruha’s bad side.”

“Do you think I care?” asked the dhampir, looking outside to see the sky turning red as the sun set.

The silver-haired teenager frowned slightly and shook his head.

“Again, it doesn’t matter.”

“What has he done to you that you’re such an obedient bitch?”

The chestnut-brown-haired male knew he used quite harsh words, but he really couldn’t understand how someone could be so scared of another teenager. Or was Uruha someone more than just a simple noble vampire?

“He made my life a living hell, that’s all you need to know…” muttered Takeru, looking away as he spoke, his voice threatening to break at any moment.

“Who is he?”

The vampire tilted his head to the left, his eyebrows still knitted.

“Uruha, who is he? What is his real name?” precised Ruki.

“Takashima Kouyou.” answered the other.

 _Takashima_? The dhampir had already heard that name, he was even almost sure his mother’s husband was from that family. They were almost as influential as the Shiroyamas, but were known as good strategists rather than rulers. They were cunning, according to some hearsay, they could see right through you, discover your weaknesses and then use them against you. They were most of the time the ones at the head of the army because of that.

“What about the others?” asked Ruki.

“The blond with the noseband is Suzuki Akira, but he goes by Reita.”

The brunet slowly nodded, that name being familiar too, though he couldn’t remember what was the Suzukis’ role. Being away from the vampire world had made him forget a lot of things.

“Then there’s Kai, Uke Yutaka.”

Ruki frowned, _Uke_? He remembered hearing that name a lot when he was a child and still lived with his mother, but he couldn’t recall why.

“And finally, the black-haired one, Aoi.”

“Aoi?” the dhampir asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Shiroyama Yuu.”

Ruki’s eyes widened as he heard the name of his target.

“Yeah, you heard me well, he’s the possible future king.”

The dhampir chuckled a little. Did Takeru really think he was surprised because of that? He was just surprised of already having met his prey, he never had thought this would happen so quickly. But somehow it shouldn’t have been surprising, the man was safe here, at least, he was until Ruki’s arrival. He didn’t need to hide who he really was amongst vampires who either respected him, or feared him.

“So our possible future king is a bully?” the brunet snorted.

“Not really, he’s not like Uruha, but if you piss him off… You might want to run far away, he’s worse than Uruha when he’s pissed.” replied the silver-haired vampire, sliding his hands in his pockets.

“What about Reita and Kai then?” asked Ruki.

“Kai isn’t really like them, at least, that’s what we all think. We don’t know much about him, he’s secretive, like his family. You could say he’s like a Pandora box, somehow he scares me even more than Uruha and Aoi.”

The dhampir hummed in response, in a way agreeing to Takeru’s statement. Kai was suspicious according to the hunter. The guy just seemed to care too much for a vampire, especially for a noble one. Ruki wasn’t actually sure if the teenager could be trusted, well, nobody could be trusted actually, but that one less than any other. Uruha had made his point with his behaviour, and Aoi seemed to be like him from what Ruki could get out of Takeru, though the raven seemed to have more self-control than the honey blond.

“Reita on the other hand is the most honest guy you could ever meet.”

Ruki cocked an eyebrow, a vampire, honest? This just made him want to laugh. Vampires were manipulators, that was common knowledge among every supernatural creature.

“But you might want to stay away from him.”

The dhampir sighed and rolled his eyes, he was certain Takeru would actually say that about any of them.

“A few people tried to hit on him and… We never saw them again.”

“You’re kidding, right?” frowned the brunet.

“Do I look like I’m joking? I’m serious here, and I think it’s Uruha’s doing. It’s quite obvious that he has a thing for Reita.”

Ruki couldn’t stop himself from laughing. That was obvious, the way the honey blond sort of clung to the bleached-blond vampire was all he needed to see that Uruha just tried to make people see that Reita wasn’t available, even though they might not be dating. However he also had noticed Reita’s behaviour, and that was the one of someone who didn’t care. Ruki knew he could use that against the tall vampire, but what would be the purpose? He was in this school to assassinate Aoi, nothing more, nothing less. He wasn’t here to make enemies or friends. Being raised by a hunter, he had ended up thinking that friends were a weakness, as well as lovers. Moreover, hunters didn’t trust anyone. His father might have had associates, but he had things against them, that was the only reason why they didn’t try anything against him.

“Now that I think about it, who are you?”

Ruki just shrugged, licking his lips.

“You don’t need to know that.” he replied.

“I think I’d just quit this school if another nobleman came.” mumbled Takeru.

The dhampir looked at the vampire, slightly confused. Another nobleman? Every student here came from a noble family, why would he say something like that?

“You’re a noble too, Takeru.”

“What I mean is one with the same status as those four.”

Ruki looked away, already knowing what was coming.

“The worse would be a Matsumoto.”

There it was. The brunet was quite sure this would come, his mother’s family was from the same status as Aoi’s one after all. He was actually quite convinced that if it weren’t for a certain incident a few years ago, one of his siblings would be a possible heir, but who would want someone from a family like theirs at the head of the kingdom? It was somewhat ridiculous though, none of his siblings had the power he had, so people shouldn’t have been worried. The only one that had that special family legacy, besides Ruki, had been executed after all. And when it came to his mother and other older members, nobody would try anything against them, they were needed to the kingdom as much as the Takashimas and Shiroyamas, though not exactly in the same fields.

“Why would it be that bad?” asked the dhampir, slowly getting annoyed.

“They are monsters, I heard something about one member being executed, and executing a nobleman isn’t nothing. He had to do something, and the whole family certainly was linked to it, though they weren’t punished.”

“Who told you that?”

“My family, why?” frowned the silver-haired boy.

“Don’t believe everything they tell you, the only people who know for sure what really happened are the Matsumotos themselves, the king and a maybe few ministers.” sighed Ruki, rubbing his temples.

“Are you defending them?”

“I’m just telling you that rumours are what they are, rumours. You can’t blindly believe them, there’s always more to the story than what is told amongst the people.” groaned the dhampir.

The silver-haired vampire really was starting to get on his nerves. Was he really that naïve or was it a game, a façade? Anyway, if it went on that way, at some point Ruki would snap the other’s neck, he perfectly knew it, he could already feel pins and needles in his hands, which wasn’t a good sign.

The problem with being half hunter, and more specifically a vampire hunter, was that he had that sort of hatred for vampires in him. As much as he wanted to push it away because of his mother and his own nature, he still sometimes felt the need to kill a vampire. That was how hunters used to work before after all, sometimes they had missions, but even when they didn’t, they just killed vampires when they met some. Nowadays it was different, from what Ruki knew, hunters and vampires had a sort of agreement, a treaty, that made it impossible for them to kill each other without a _‘proper’_ reason, this being a simple signed contract that asked the hunter to kill a vampire and vice versa. It was stupid, hunters could just create contracts between each other, but somehow they never had thought about it, they respected the treaty, just as much as vampires did.

“Could you leave, Takeru? I need to rest.” said Ruki, sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Sure, I’ll come by in two hours for dinner.”

The brunet just nodded, waving his hand in a dismissive way. Now that he thought about it, how would he manage to live here? He was so used to have servants do everything for him even before he asked for it… He might have been considered as a spoiled child, if he hadn’t been asked to kill people right after his sixth birthday.

He let himself fall on his back, staring at the black ceiling.

In a way he couldn’t complain about his life, he really had everything he wanted as long as he fulfilled his missions. The fact that he could go on with his diet, which mostly consisted of blood, when he had been taken away from his mother, still surprised him. He was shocked by how understanding his father could be sometimes. As a hunter, the man should have done his best to make the teenager forget his life as a vampire, to make him fully live as a hunter instead, but it never happened. Ruki had gone on with his diet, he sometimes even received living sources, and that was enough for him. He knew that he couldn’t live without blood anyway, even food wasn’t needed for him, he just needed his ration of blood and it was enough. Food was just to make people think that he still had a sort of human part in him, though hunters weren’t really human themselves.

The brunet rolled on his side, closing his eyes. Honestly, he hardly considered himself as a hunter, he didn’t live like one at all. The job he had, some vampires did it too, though those were traitors. He couldn’t see himself entirely as a hunter because of his needs, and he knew that one day, he would have to choose between living as a vampire or a hunter, he wouldn’t always be able to go on with two lifestyles. It would either break him, or make people chase him. He knew that if it weren’t for his father’s status among the hunter community, he would already be hunted, even maybe already dead. His father saw him as a sort of secret weapon, while the others saw him as a threat. Ruki could only agree with them, he was a threat, he had already almost killed another hunter once after all. And the reason behind it could have been seen as a betrayal, but again, thanks to his father he was safe. He could hate his father as much as he wanted for taking him away from his mother, but he couldn’t deny that the man had saved his ass more than once.

The dhampir sighed heavily, feeling the tingling sensation in his fingers finally vanishing. He had to be careful, his contract was quite precise this time. It clearly stated that he couldn’t kill any other vampire than Shiroyama Yuu, and that wouldn’t be easy. His own head was at stake, this was his last mission before the council made a choice. He was with them or against them, and lately, everything pointed to the latter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's still short, I'm still settling things, I guess.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

“How is it going?”

The chestnut-brown-haired boy heaved a sigh. He was sitting on the roof, away from any possible eavesdropper. He was quite sure nobody would even try to climb here, this spot was difficult to reach and not the most secure of whole possible hiding places.

“It’s only been a week, father.” the dhampir replied in a whisper.

The moon was high in the cloudless indigo sky. Ruki had been up there for two hours, first to just take a break from the vampires, but his peaceful time had been disturbed by his father calling him for an update.

“Can’t I talk to my son?”

Ruki rolled his eyes.

“No, you can’t. You shouldn’t contact me as long as I’m in here, unless it’s an _emergency_.” groaned the dhampir.

“What if there’s an emergency then?” asked his father.

“There isn’t.” sighed the brunet. “If it was the case, I’d be able to hear your unsteady heartbeat, even through the phone, and right now it’s perfectly fine.”

His father was behaving like an ignorant idiot again. He knew Ruki could figure someone’s state of mind through body signs. This was something that always made other hunters uncomfortable around the dhampir, they knew that Ruki could hear their heartbeat, their swallowing, their blood flowing in their veins… Nothing could really escape to Ruki’s ears as well as eyes.

“Somehow I hate that side of you.” sighed the older man.

“Then you shouldn’t have hooked up with a vampire in the first place.” the teenager growled. “I’d like to have some peace of mind now, so don’t try contacting me again, except if it’s really needed.”

He didn’t wait for his father to reply, switching off his phone. He lay back on the sloping roof and stared up at the sky.

He had been here for a week and had quite experienced what Takeru had talked about when he said he should have stayed out of Uruha’s way. The vampire had tried to make all the students pull pranks on the brunet, but seeing it didn’t affect him all that much, they had ended up stopping, pissing off the honey blond even more. Once, Ruki’s blood at dinner had tasted awful, as if it had been taken from an already dead body, and he was quite sure it was Uruha’s doing too. This actually was some pretty much petty revenge. The dhampir had waited for hell, and all he could feel here was some childlike behaviour from the tall vampire.

His ears perked up as he heard some kind of scratching sound. Was someone coming up here? He sat up just in time to see another student appear on the roof a few meters away from him. He was surprised to see Aoi walking dangerously near the edge of the roof, a grin stretching is plump lips.

“Someone discovered my hideout.” laughed the raven, sitting next to the dhampir.

Ruki just shrugged, not exactly in the mood to talk to anyone tonight. Uruha had actually managed to strike a nerve, even if the noble vampire hadn’t noticed it, Ruki acting as his usual self. He startled as he felt fingers nudge his right arm, but they were quickly removed because of his reaction.

“Sorry.”

The dhampir glanced at the other from the corner of the eye. He should have used this opportunity to get close to Aoi so it would be easier to do his job, but he had no strength to do so tonight. He just wanted to rest and forget about everything. His father calling had just reminded him of having a mission here, as well as having his life at stake. Somehow he didn’t even fathom why he continued this job, what was the purpose in doing so? He knew the council wouldn’t let him live, so why should he take someone else’s life away before losing his own?

“Are you thinking about what Uruha said?”

“Should I?” asked Ruki, letting himself fall back, closing his eyes.

“No.”

The brunet softly chuckled at the other’s short and direct answer. He heard some rustle, clothes, and soon felt the other lying down next to him.

“Uruha thinks he made a fool of himself by saying something like that, but from what I can see here, it does affect you.”

Ruki didn’t reply, he didn’t want the other to know how he could possibly feel. There wasn’t much to say anyway, the honey-blond vampire had told the truth, although he didn’t know it.

“He would be proud of finally having something against you.” the vampire chuckled, though his tone quickly went back to serious. “But for it to touch you, it has to hide some truth, am I right?”

The chestnut-brown-haired teenager opened his eyes to directly lock them with the other’s obsidian orbs. Aoi was leaning over him, though still keeping any possible contact away.

“You shouldn’t be out in the open around me, Aoi.” finally said Ruki, pushing the other away so he could stare at the sky once again.

Some of the hunters his father was associated with had some kind of powers, like for example his father having a faster healing process than any other hunter. Some of them were able to use the stars to observe the world as much as they wanted. The dhampir didn’t really know how that worked, but he knew that right now he might have been under someone’s close watch, he actually was convinced it was the case. Never would the council let pass an opportunity to watch the half blood.

“Why? I actually like your company, you give out a calming aura.” frowned the vampire.

“There are things you have no idea of, and I’m one of them. This supposedly calming aura might as well hide something else, and I think you’ve already quite well understood it.” replied the brunet, rolling on his side to be face to face with the other.

“You definitely are hiding something, I know that, but that secret can’t possibly put my life in danger, I’m safe.”

Ruki couldn’t keep himself from laughing at this point. _Safe_? Did the vampire really think he was safe? He was nothing but safe since the dhampir had arrived.

The brunet pushed the raven on his back and quickly rolled over him, straddling him with his body as he sat on his lower stomach, pinning his arms to the roof roughly and maybe with a bit too much strength as he heard the vampire groan in pain. Ruki leaned over, his mouth next to the other’s ear.

“You shouldn’t fall for appearances.” he whispered, baring his fangs as he lowered his head to the raven’s neck. “You trust people way too easily, mister future king.”

He grazed the tip of his fangs on Aoi’s jugular vein. He could feel the raven slightly squirming under him, but by pressing his body a bit more against his it made him stop. He could hear the vampire’s heartbeat speeding up, his blood boiling in his veins.

“Just one swift move and you’d be dead by now.” he murmured, his fangs trailing over the raven’s neck, making some small droplets of blood appear as his sharp canines scraped his skin.

“You wouldn’t risk it.” said the other, though he seemed to not quite believe his own words.

“You’d be surprised.” soughed the dhampir, his lips brushing over Aoi’s defined jawline.

He moved upwards to face the vampire, a smirk stretching his red-painted full lips. He could do it if he wanted, right now he could just slit the other’s throat and his job would be over.

As he gazed down in the other’s dark eyes though, there was something that stopped him from doing it. He couldn’t quite grasp what it was, but there was something in those eyes… Or was it exactly what he had been warned against? As he was right now, over the other, trapping him underneath his body, he could as well take his soul away with his eyes, but that would directly lead to the Matsumotos, and he didn’t want his mother’s family to be linked to any of this, they already were too much involved to the dhampir's liking.

A squeak escaped his lips as he was suddenly turned over, being now the one pressed in the roof, Aoi above him, his eyes gleaming and slowly turning red. Ruki groaned, knowing that the other had had this opportunity because he had hesitated, because he had been lost in his thoughts. He just should have ripped out the other’s throat and then go back home, most certainly to get killed too.

“You know I could make you lose your head for what you just did, right?” asked the raven, his hair framing his face as he leaned down to almost brush his nose against Ruki’s.

“You wouldn’t want people to think that you’d be a tyrant as a king, would you?” retorted the dhampir, his smirk slowly tugging back at his lips.

The vampire chuckled, shaking his head at the same time. Ruki just stared at him, trying to escape from his grasp, but not even capable of moving from an inch. How strong actually was Aoi?

“I could as well just take advantage of what I have here.”

The dhampir narrowed his eyes as he heard the raven’s statement. As it finally dawned upon him, he opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by the other’s lips against his. He just wanted to scream at the other to stop, to move away, to not give another reason to the council to kill him, but as the kiss continued, he found himself giving in to it, appreciating the sweet flavour of Aoi’s lips.

He didn’t know when it happened, or why he didn’t use it to move away, but his arms had been freed and he had wrapped them around the vampire’s neck, parting his lips at the same time to deepen the kiss.

Ruki knew that if the council saw this, they would directly sentence him to death, but he couldn’t care less at the moment. It had been a long time since he had any contact like this, too long actually.

A displeased groan left him as the vampire moved away from his lips to kiss his way down to the dhampir’s neck. A shiver went down the brunet’s spine as he felt the other’s fangs brushing against his pale and smooth skin. If he did what Ruki thought he would do, it would be bad news for the dhampir. He could give out a vampire feeling, but he couldn’t possibly change his blood, and that was the proof he wasn’t a pure blood.

Something halfway through a moan and a sob escaped his lips as he felt the raven’s canines breaking through his skin, piercing his jugular. He could feel blood flowing down his neck, he could hear the other gulping somewhat eagerly as he drank the crimson red liquid. _You’re going to regret it, Ruki, you so are going to regret it,_ the dhampir thought, tears stinging his eyes as he tried to hold them back. As much as he wanted it to stop, he also wanted it to continue.

A vampire’s bite contained something that could have been described as endorphin, making the pain the other felt slowly fade away. However it didn’t exactly work that way when a vampire bit another one, it just brought pleasure to the one who was getting bitten, and Ruki could feel it going through his veins, he felt his body wanted more.

Another moan came out of his slightly parted lips as he felt Aoi’s cold fingers snake under his shirt, making circles on his stomach. As he tilted his head back, giving more access to his neck to the other, Ruki’s right hand tangled in the raven’s silky-smooth hair while the other gripped at his shirt between his shoulder blades.

“What the hell is going on here!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the third chapter. Somehow I just can't manage to write long chapters for this fanfic, haha.  
> What did you think? I think it's quite easy to guess who's the person at the end~


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

Ruki groaned in displeasure as he felt Aoi moving away, though not before licking one last time at the smaller boy’s neck to stop the bleeding. The dhampir quickly stood up once he was able to and glared at the intruder, who was no other than Uruha. The tall honey-blond vampire was shooting daggers at the brunet and giving a disapproving look at the raven.

The dhampir ran his fingers through his slightly messy hair and sighed, somehow Uruha had saved him from going too far. Even though he was giving in to Aoi, there was still that little voice at the back of his mind that kept on nagging him, saying that it was a really bad idea to get involved with a vampire, especially with the targeted one.

“What are you doing here, Uruha?” asked Aoi, glancing at Ruki as if he wanted to check that the other hadn’t disappeared.

“What do you think? I was looking for you, and of course I had to walk into you trying to get laid.” groaned the honey blond, rubbing his forehead.

Ruki glanced at both vampires before shaking his head, he had nothing to do here anymore. Somehow he also felt like he had to get away from the raven haired, the dhampir still could smell lust in the vampire’s scent, and he could feel it running through his own veins too, though it was slowly fading away, Uruha being a kind of mood killer at the moment.

“I’ll leave you two deal with your problems.” he said, sliding past Aoi.

He wanted to pass Uruha too, but the vampire didn’t seem to share his opinion.

“Who said you could leave?”

“I don’t need anyone’s permission.” growled back the dhampir.

“Well, maybe what I’m about to talk about concerns you.” smirked the honey blond, still not moving out of the smaller’s way.

“Continue with your bullshitting about me for all I care.”

Uruha laughed in response, grabbing Ruki by the forearm as the brunet tried to go past the taller one once again. The dhampir tried to yank his arm away, but he couldn’t use much strength in such a place, one wrong move and one of them, if not both, fell off the roof, which meant death.

“You know, there’s been some kind of rumour around the nobles for almost two years now.”

Ruki frowned, not knowing where this was supposed to lead. A rumour?

“A pretty boy with chestnut-brown hair and characterised dark-blue eyes. Always wearing makeup, sometimes dressed like a woman… Somehow all I can think about is you when I hear someone talk about it.” continued the vampire.

The dhampir still didn’t say a word, he was trying as much as possible to not shake, all his will was in not showing the two vampires present on the roof his state of mind. He knew where this was leading, just like with Takeru who was scared of having another important nobleman around, he knew now what Uruha was implying. Right now the brunet hated his job, he hated his father, he hated the hunters. He should have known that he would get noticed at some point, especially because he was involved with nobles who always took their precautions before doing anything. They maybe didn’t know his identity, nor did they know what he truly was, but he hadn’t thought about changing his appearance before getting here, not thinking that there would be a rumour about him. Noblemen were discreet when it came to their private life, especially their sex life, so he hadn’t expected any of them to talk about it, so much that it would even create a rumour.

“Not much people know about it though. For example Aoi doesn’t have a clue, look at him, he’s completely lost.”

Ruki was instantly spun around by the honey blond to look at the raven. He indeed looked lost, his dark eyes showed pure confusion and a hint of curiosity now.

“You tell him or I do?” asked Uruha, slightly leaning to reach Ruki’s ear.

“There’s nothing to say.” managed to say the dhampir, his voice not betraying him to his relief.

“Is that so? Maybe you should just take everything off and show us their marks.”

Ruki didn’t need to look at the vampire to know that a smug grin stretched his bow-shaped lips.

As he felt hands nudging his sides, one tugging at his shirt and the other reaching for his belt, a low growl at the back of his throat made its way out through gritted teeth, warning the honey blond to not go any further if he cared about his life.

“Fuck off, Uruha.” he growled, slapping the other’s hands away.

The tall vampire took a few steps back, holding his hands up in the air, although a smirk still stretched his lips.

“He’s a slut.”

Ruki’s right eyebrow twitched as he heard him. He noticed a frown slowly twisting Aoi’s facial features, the raven head didn’t look that attractive when he made such a face.

“What are you talking about, Uruha?” he asked, although his eyes were set on the dhampir.

“He’s been sleeping around with noblemen for a while now, that’s what I’m saying.”

The brunet didn’t even pay attention to the exchange between the two vampires anymore. There was something else that was troubling him. Aoi had drunk his blood, he had tasted him pretty well, after all he had taken a lot. The raven must have understood by now what Ruki truly was, so why wasn’t he saying anything? Why wasn’t he showing anything? It confused the brunet, what would possibly gain the vampire by hiding something that big? He knew that he was in danger with someone like Ruki around, he should have sold him out to the headmaster in order save his ass instead of keeping it a secret.

“Fuck this shit.” he muttered, cutting Uruha short without knowing it.

“You’re seriously too confident to dare cut me off.” groaned the honey blond.

“Like I would care about what you think.” retorted Ruki, glaring at the vampire before turning around to look at Aoi once again. “Yeah, I’m a whore, still wanna go for it? A Shiroyama might have fucked me before, who knows. There are too many people for me to remember.”

Right now the dhampir was just lying, he perfectly knew who he had slept with, and there wasn’t a Shiroyama on the list, the family had to keep its name clear to make Aoi access to the throne, so they couldn’t possibly get involved in a scandal involving sex with a prostitute or something like that, moreover with an underage person.

It wasn’t like Ruki really had decided to work in a brothel a few times a week, it was more the council’s decision than his, he couldn’t say much against it in the end. He wasn’t sure his father had even protested when they had talked about using his son this way, he most certainly hadn’t. He was doing it only to get some information out of the nobles, both men and women. They often ended up talking about their lives, their problems and so on after a good fucking session. Pillow talk was riskier than they thought, that was for sure. The other prostitutes certainly kept everything to themselves, but it wasn’t Ruki’s case, though nobody there knew it. Everybody took him for a vampire and they didn’t question his decision in working there, although they had seemed quite sad at the idea of him leaving a few months ago.

“I wonder how you got into this school though, it’s a lot of money and only nobles are accepted.” said Uruha, staring at the dhampir with curiosity now, all contempt having temporarily left him.

The brunet glanced at the honey blond before shrugging.

“Who said I wasn’t a noble?” he asked, playing with one of his silver rings.

“You are?”

The tall vampire seemed surprised, his widening eyes and his tone clearly showing it. Who wouldn’t be anyway knowing what he had done since he had turned fifteen? Ruki would soon be seventeen and he could only feel some sort of pity for himself, for the life he had led until now. Sex against information, tracking, deceiving, murdering… His life came down to that only. He knew that his mother had tried to take him back, to take him away from that sick environment that were the hunters, but she only had gotten threatened in return. The Matsumotos were the only family to not be targeted by the hunters, and Ruki sort of was the reason to that. Once he would be dead though, they would be hunted down too, although they weren’t that easy to approach thanks to their eyes, hunters had tricks to get round them.

“Which family are you from?” asked Aoi, seemingly getting finally out of his thoughts.

“That’s not something I can tell.” replied Ruki, smiling sadly.

“You’re lying about your nobility, you got in here thanks to your connections.” sighed Uruha.

“Believe me, the only connection that got me in here is my mother, but I don’t need to tell who that is.”

“Why? It wouldn't hurt anyone.” frowned the raven.

“You’d be surprised.” humourlessly chuckled the dhampir.

Both vampires stared at each other before looking at the brunet who was crouching at the edge of the roof, looking down. He cocked an eyebrow as he noticed one of their prefects walking around, as if he were looking for something. Had he noticed that some students were missing? It was past 1am so it surely was that, why would he wander around if not for that? He looked ahead, staring at the forest that surrounded the school grounds. He could hear Uruha and Aoi talking about something, but he didn’t pay attention to that, something had caught his eye out there.

The dhampir narrowed his eyes as he noticed something gleaming in the dark. What could that possibly be? He glanced again at the prefect that was now walking away. The brunet’s head suddenly shot up. _Wait._ Was that what he thought it w– He sprang to his feet, blood boiling in his veins as he felt the imminent threat, and rushed to the two vampires, yelling at them to duck as he pushed on their heads to force them down on their stomach to the roof. His body tensed up as he felt something scratch his cheek as he pushed the two vampires down. The bullet dug in the roof, breaking a few tiles at the same time.

“Get inside!” he growled, glancing once again at the forest to see that the shooter was gone.

Both the raven and the honey blond quickly got off the roof and jumped inside a room by a window, Ruki soon following them, though not before checking his surroundings one last time.

“What was that?” asked Aoi, looking around warily, his pupils dilated by without a doubt fear.

“That was a hunter, moron.” groaned Ruki, massaging his temples.

“How could this happen? There’s a magical fence surrounding the school to keep any kind of threat away, how could he shoot and actually get through the barrier?” muttered Uruha, looking outside.

The brunet didn’t reply to this, but he knew the answer, _he_ was the answer. Two nights after his arrival he had casted one of the rare spells he could control, this one weakening any other spell. He had weakened the magical fence as much as possible, thus making it possible for powerful hunters to eventually infiltrate the school if they wanted. This one had stayed outside the school grounds, but he was a sniper, and snipers were part of the most dangerous hunters. Ruki wouldn’t have noticed him if it weren’t for his eyes and the sky being cloudless. If he had used his eyes properly, he could have seen who was the hunter, but in this case he had thought about it too late, the first thing he had done was save the two noble vampires.

His dark-blue eyes widened as what he had done sank in. _Holy fucking shit!_  He turned to a wall and hit his head against it, groaning at the huge mistake he had just made. He had _saved_ those bloodsuckers’ asses!

“Hm… Midget, are you okay?” asked Uruha, frowning at the other’s reaction.

Ruki glared at the honey blond in response.

“Everything’s fine.” he snapped. “Go to bed, both of you.”

“But what if the hun–”

“He’s gone you halfwit! You’d already have been shot a few times if he was still there.” the brunet cut off the raven.

The dhampir ignored the vampires’ bewildered expressions and turned around, walking away.

“Just fucking go to sleep and let me be.” he growled, waving his hand.

He turned at a corner, leaving the two confused noble vampires behind him. He was in deep shit, what had gone through his head to save those two? And what was doing a hunter here? It had only been a week, there was no way they already sent someone else to do the job because he was taking too long, a week was too short to send another hunter… Or was it about him? Now that he thought about it, the bullet seemed to have been aimed to his head, not to the vampires. It was his cheek that had been scraped, if he hadn’t moved his head, it would have gone right through his skull, he knew it, the angle was perfect. He had managed to avoid it because he was a hunter himself, thus he could sense a few things, this threat being one of those things. The sniper hadn’t thought about hiding his intention of shooting a lethal bullet, the imminent danger making Ruki’s ears ring, warning him just in time. He sighed heavily as he walked in his room.

He let himself fall on his bed and stared at the black ceiling.

“Well, if I weren’t blacklisted, now I as hell am.” he grumbled, throwing an arm over his eyes, red lips parted as he let a shaky breath get out.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

Rolling around in his king-sized bed, the raven groaned as he felt a ray of sunlight on his face. He opened his eyes and checked his alarm clock to sigh in relief, it was only eight in the morning. He slowly got out of the covers, groggily making his way to the bathroom to get ready.

As he made his eyes, the events from earlier came back to him, making him stare blankly at his reflexion. He wasn’t sure of what had happened. He couldn’t fathom how a hunter possibly could have broken the magical fence that surrounded the boarding school. This place was supposed to be even safer than the royal palace, so how could such a thing happen?

He frowned as he thought about something else. The bullet, if it was a bullet, –he hadn’t had quite the time to check as scared as he was and rushed by Ruki to get inside– didn’t seem to be aimed to him or Uruha, it had been meant for the brunet, the raven was quite sure of that. Though the raven couldn’t see why, it would be more logical if someone tried to kill him, though not much people actually knew how he looked like.

He walked out of his room to head to the cafeteria, still thinking about Ruki. Who was the boy? Aoi had drunk his blood, and he could feel that something was different about it. The raven had an ominous feeling as he thought about it. The small brunet hid something, something big.

He sat at the usual table, in his usual seat, as a waiter already served him his breakfast, not even having to be ordered to do so. Aoi looked at the waiters who were roaming all over the place and scrunched up his nose. He wasn’t even king yet –actually he wasn’t even sure he would be– and people already behaved as if he were one. Right now he wasn’t royalty, he was a noble, like all the other students. Maybe one from a more important family, but still, sometimes he wanted to be treated like any other student, though that wouldn’t happen. Moreover he had to admit that he liked using his influence on others in order to make them do what he wanted.

His trail of thoughts was cut short when the rest of his friends joined him, Reita and Kai chattering cheerfully, oblivious of what had happened during the night. Aoi glanced at Uruha and noticed the honey blond staring right back at him. They didn’t say a word though, continuing to eat as they listened to the two others talking. Aoi didn’t really know if talking about it was needed, he knew that Uruha had the same questions in mind anyway so…

However, after twenty minutes, the raven let his gaze roam around the room, noticing that one person was missing.

“Have any of you guys seen Ruki today?” he inquired, looking at his three friends.

Reita and Kai just stared at him in some mix of shock and surprise while Uruha merely shook his head in negation.

“Why would you care about him, Aoi? Do you want Uruha to hate you?” asked Reita, scratching the back of his neck as he titled his head to the right.

“Things happened and I think we need to talk to him.” the raven replied, locking eyes with the taller one of them.

“Let’s just go to his room then.” sighed Kai, standing up, not even trying to understand what was going on in the pierced teenager’s head.

They all agreed and walked out of the cafeteria to directly go back to the dorm house. As they climbed the stairs to the right floor they heard the small brunet’s name being called out in an exasperated tone. Aoi frowned as he recognised Takeru’s voice. What was going on?

They walked to the silver-haired vampire to notice him banging on Ruki’s door, his face expression showing sort of worry, though annoyance started to make its way too.

“Come on Ruki, I can hear you groan in pain. What happened?” he asked, kicking the door with his right foot.

“Nothing! Fuck the hell off Takeru!”

Aoi cleared his throat as he now was quite sure the small vampire hadn’t notice them and wouldn’t either, being too focused on Ruki, who indeed sounded quite in pain, though pissed off as well. The silver head straightened up and got still as he saw the four nobles.

“What’s going on?” asked Uruha, his eyebrows knitted.

“Like I would know, I’ve been here for twenty minutes trying to get him out of his room.” replied Takeru, not even noticing how he sounded like as he talked back to the honey blond.

Uruha hummed in response, not minding the tone.

“Did you do something to him?” asked the small vampire, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“For once I’ve nothing to do with his state.” said the tallest vampire, shaking his head.

“You fucking have something to do with my state, beanpole!” they heard.

Aoi chuckled as he heard Ruki insulting Uruha, although he wondered what the small brunet meant by saying Uruha was linked to his state of pain. The honey blond hadn’t done anything to the brunet, the raven was quite sure of that; he could feel that Uruha actually sort of felt grateful to the small man, the boy had saved their lives after all, even though Aoi now thought that they weren’t even targeted at first.

“Alright, Takeru, we’ll take care of this. Go eat something, you look like you’re going to faint.” said Kai, patting the silver-haired vampire’s shoulder.

“Just don’t do what you did to me.” the small teenager mumbled before walking away.

Kai shook his head in defeat before glancing at Uruha, his eyes slowly hardening into a glare.

“You really went too far on the poor boy, Uruha.”

“How could I know it would affect him that much?” shrugged the honey blond.

“You perfectly knew it, you’re just so much into your family’s mindset that you don’t notice that what they do isn’t something you can apply in real life with people who aren’t your enemies.” growled Kai before knocking on Ruki’s door.

Aoi noticed Uruha looking away, biting his lower lip slightly. The raven-haired vampire sighed as he thought of his friend’s education. Uruha had been trained to find people’s weaknesses and use them against them since his youngest age, he didn’t really know how to interact properly with people. He always looked for something wrong, he always tried to make the other break when it wasn’t actually needed. Aoi knew that Uruha would be perfect in taking his family’s head, but the honey-blond vampire would have to work on his socialising skills. As he was now, the only people he respected enough to not be a pure asshole to them were Kai, Reita and Aoi. They had grown up together so they actually had been friends before Uruha started changing with his family’s training.

“I told you to fuck the hell off Tak–”

Aoi looked at the door to notice that Ruki had actually opened it to make Takeru go away for good. As he saw the small brunet’s state, the raven’s eyes widened in shock while he heard Uruha gasp. Half of Ruki’s face was completely black, as if he had painted it. The white of his left eye was purple, and the dark-blue colour of his iris as well as his pupil had turned white and seemed to be deprived of any gleam, his left eye seemed dead. Aoi noticed that the black colour seemed to spread on the boy’s neck, as if it was dripping, though it seemed to be under his skin, the colour not being as dark yet.

“Just great, why did it have to be you out of all people?” the brunet groaned, grabbing his right arm.

The raven looked at it and for a moment he felt like he was about to throw up. The arm was of a dark purple colour and hung lifelessly on the small teenager’s side.

“Go away.” simply said Ruki, turning around to go back in his bedroom.

Aoi glanced at Uruha and noticed that his friend didn’t seem in a better state than him. He looked like he was about to be sick too, his complexion even paler than normal, if that was even possible.

“What happened to him? He wasn’t like that when we left him last night.” asked the raven, frowning.

“You saw him last night?” asked Reita, gaping at Aoi.

“Yeah… As I said, things happened.” he sighed.

“Better not talk about it in the hallway.” said Uruha, grabbing Reita’s and Kai’s arms to drag them inside Ruki’s room.

The raven cocked an eyebrow, not sure the small brunet would actually appreciate having them around in his room, but shrugged in the end, following them and locking the door behind him.

He was met with the sight of Ruki sitting on his double bed, leaning on the headboard, a cigarette in his mouth, as Reita sat on a chair and Uruha and Kai both stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. The raven walked to the bed and kneed on the edge, reaching out his hand to touch Ruki’s purple arm.

“Don’t touch it, it’s not completely deprived of any sensations yet.” growled the brunet, painfully shifting away.

“You know what did this to you?” asked Aoi, sitting on the bed.

“Are you stupid or what? It’s the fucking bullet I saved your asses from.” spat Ruki, throwing his cigarette in an ashtray on his nightstand.

“A bullet? What bullet?” asked Kai, looking at Aoi in confusion.

The raven glanced at Uruha, but the honey blond didn’t seem to want to explain anything. He sighed heavily before speaking up, massaging his forehead as he did so.

“Last night I went on the roof.” he started.

“That doesn’t change from the usual.” stated Reita, looking slightly bored.

“Just let me talk.” growled the raven.

“Oh for fuck’s sake! Just say: I went on the roof, met Ruki, Uruha came by and a hunter shot at us.” snapped Ruki, obviously annoyed by the unwanted people in his room.

“A few things aren’t said.” pointed out the honey-blond vampire, a smirk stretching his lips.

“Those things aren’t needed to explain how this happened.” replied the small brunet, indicating his face and arm as he talked.

Uruha didn’t say anything and just went to sit on the windowsill. Aoi glanced at Ruki, still wondering how a bullet could have done that to him. Had he been touched? The raven hadn’t noticed anything when Ruki had left them.

He shook his head, wanting to slap himself hard. Of course he hadn’t noticed anything, he had behaved like a fucking princess in distress, too absorbed by his own safety and health to notice that the brunet had been hurt.

“Did it spread any further?” asked the raven, looking at Ruki, though not able to see much as the small teenager wore a large t-shirt and black sweatpants.

“I don’t even want to know where the poison might have spread.” mumbled the chestnut-haired boy.

“Poison? I can check what kind of poison it is.” said Kai, walking to the bed.

“Don’t touch me, I’m quite sure it spread to my arm because I touched the poison, it doesn’t need to get in your system by a wound.” groaned Ruki, wincing a little.

“But it hurts.” frowned the taller brunet.

“Of course it hurts, it’s mermaid blood!” yelled the other.

They all gaped at him, Aoi surprised by what he had heard. How could Ruki know that he was poisoned by mermaid blood? The raven had heard about mermaid blood, they had talked about it in class and it seemed that it could be both healing and poisoning. The teacher didn’t explain how that was possible though, and it made Aoi wonder how someone could manage to get mermaid blood that was for sure harmful, or make it that way.

“How can you be sure it’s mermaid blood?” inquired Reita, running a hand through his bleached-blond locks.

Ruki looked away, nipping at his lower lip.

“It doesn’t matter, I just know it, okay?” he sighed, rubbing his right arm with a wince.

Aoi gaped at Kai as the tall brunet just grabbed Ruki and forced him to lay down completely on his back.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” growled the hurt teenager, trying to sit up without success as he was hold down by Kai, his useless arm surely not helping.

“Just stay still, most of my family members are royal doctors.” the other replied, trying to lift Ruki’s top, but the smaller brunet didn’t seem to be willing to let him do so.

“I already called someone, just leave my room before he gets here.” retorted the chestnut-brown-haired teenager.

Aoi frowned, Ruki had called someone? Never would the guards let someone get in just like that, you had to tell the school about it days before so they had time to check who you were, it was that way with everyone. And when you were at the gates, you were searched, the headmaster not wanting anyone to be put in danger, especially Aoi himself.

“He won’t be able to get in.” said the raven.

He was surprised when he heard Ruki laugh in a mocking tone.

“Noble vampires are so naïve…” he whispered, shaking his head, still laughing.

He was at it again. During the whole week, Aoi had heard Ruki criticising noble vampires as if he weren’t one of them, as if he were an outsider. This had probably led Uruha to research the small brunet a bit more, which had in the end made him find out that Ruki was a prostitute.

“Anyway, leave.” growled the dark-blue-eyed teenager.

“Why wo–”

Aoi was cut off by someone opening the bedroom door.

He stared at the new comer with his eyebrows knitted, feeling a familiar unfriendly aura coming from him. He reminded the raven of Ruki; the tall blond that had just entered the room gave off the exact same feeling.

“You’re in deep shit, sweetie, you know that?” said the new comer, closing the door before walking to the bed, a wide grin stretching his lips.

Aoi’s frown deepened as he heard the term of endearment, he noticed from the corner of the eye Ruki rolling his eyes in what seemed to be annoyance.

“Come on, give me a kiss and I’ll help you.” he continued, climbing on the bed, his aura seemingly having changed to a friendlier one as he had approached the smaller boy.

“Just continue sucking on your lollipop and get me fixed.” groaned the small brunet, pushing the blond’s face away from his.

“Okay, okay. Just don’t be so harsh, honey.” the other chuckled before looking at the four vampires in the room, his unfriendly aura back. “Go, you’ve nothing to do here.”

Aoi was about to retort when Kai yanked him by the arm, dragging him out of the bedroom. Once Uruha closed the door behind them, the raven growled at Kai.

“Why did we get out?” he asked, showing his fangs.

“Better not stay around that blond.” simply replied the tall brunet.

Aoi felt even more confused, what did Kai mean? Sure, the newcomer gave off an unfriendly aura, but that was not enough to leave. He didn’t trust him to take care of the small brunet.

The raven cocked an eyebrow as he noticed what he was thinking. Since when had he become so protective of the new student? They didn’t know each other at all.

“Didn’t you feel it, Aoi?” asked Reita, his dark-amber coloured eyes locking with the raven dark ones.

“Feel what?” he asked, looking at his three friends in confusion.

“That was a hunter, Aoi.” explained the bleached-blond vampire.

The raven’s eyes widened, not believing what he had just heard. A hunter? Was it the one that had shot at them last night? But Ruki didn’t seem to feel in danger or uncomfortable when the boy had entered the room, he just had seemed to feel annoyed.

“Aoi, I don’t know what happened with Ruki, but we should stay away from him, he was way to comfortable with that new guy.” continued Reita, patting Aoi’s shoulder. “We don’t want you to put yourself in any more danger.”

The pierced teenager just shrugged the other’s hand away, turning around, heading to the staircase to go back to his room. He slammed the door open and let himself fall on his bed, grabbing his head at the same time. What hell was going on here?


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a native speaker.

The chestnut-brown teenager stared at his blond friend, chewing on his bottom lip.

“So, mind to explain what happened?” asked the blond, throwing his lollipop in the bin.

“You know perfectly what happened.” groaned Ruki, looking down at his right arm.

“I’m not sure actually.”

The dark-blue-eyed dhampir glanced at his friend, confused. What was there to be uncertain about? He must have heard about the attempt on his life, there was no way he wouldn’t.

Maya was a hybrid too, although Ruki wasn’t sure what his mother truly was. She had died just after giving birth to him, but it seemed like she wasn’t from one species only either. Maya had ended up being able to sort of turn into other species. He just needed to touch one. He could pass for a vampire, a werewolf, a witch… Whatever he wanted, as long as he touched something typical of those kinds. He was the only hybrid the council trusted actually. What they didn’t know was that Maya was engaged in double-dealing. He made them believe he worked for them only, but the blond actually was loyal to his friends, and Ruki was one of them. Ruki and Maya were the two hybrids who were considered as freaks, while the others weren’t, because most of them were most of the time half-hunter and half-nymph, or half-witch. They were hunters who only went after vampires of course, so that was the only reason why they were accepted. There were other clans that hunted other species, such as werewolves, or witches. Ruki was an exception to the rule, although one that would soon be gotten rid of.

“He missed me.” blurted out the brunet.

“Did he, really? From what I can see, you’re injured.” frowned the blond.

“All right, I wasn’t alone and I first thought they were targeted, not me.” sighed Ruki.

“They? Who?”

“Aoi and Uruha.”

Maya gaped at him. He knew who they were, the dhampir had told him right after he had met them, needing to talk to someone.

“Don’t tell me… You thought about protecting them before anything else?” exclaimed the blond, standing up.

“It was a reflex, don’t you think I hate myself for that? After doing it I couldn’t believe it.” groaned the brunet burying his face in his pillow.

“You’re an idiot, Ruki. The council already was suspecting you of being too friendly with vampires, now you’re dead meat.”

“I know!” yelled the dhampir.

The blond hybrid smiled sadly, although the brunet couldn’t see him. No one could actually blame Ruki for helping vampires as long as they weren’t targets, but this time, he also had helped Shiroyama Yuu, and that was wrong. Even though the bullet wasn’t meant for one of the vampires, it could as well have been, and then… Ruki would directly have been charged with treason. But that didn’t matter anymore, did it? Maya knew that the council had dispatched the sniper, his order was to kill Ruki, and he had almost succeeded. Ruki must have been distracted to actually get scratched, he was one of the fastest hunters after all.

“Come on, let me see your face and arm clearly.” he finally said with a sigh, patting the brunet’s head.

Ruki groaned in pain as he rolled on his back. He let Maya take his t-shirt off and then observed the blond’s actions as he touched his arm, then his face. The brunet tried as much as possible not to show that it hurt him, but it was useless. His face and arm still hurt, although he couldn’t feel his hand anymore. Soon the feeling would spread to the rest of his limb and it would be as if he didn’t have an arm at all. He actually couldn’t see with his left eye, he must have turned blind. If Maya didn’t do something soon, the poison would spread further, he would then be unable to move or see. Mermaid blood was a real pain in the ass, he had always hated that poison. It was hard to create, and when you got it in your system, it was hard to find a cure too. It wasn’t a poison used for quick deaths either, people poisoned with mermaid blood died of a slow and painful death.

“Alright! You’re lucky.” said the blond, clapping his hands once.

“Lucky? You’re kidding me!” growled the brunet.

“Let me speak, idiot.” sighed Maya. “You’re lucky because they didn’t use new blood, so I actually have the cure with me.”

“That’s ridiculous. Who would take a blood that already has a cure?” frowned Ruki.

“A newbie. I’m quite sure that sniper didn’t think about it when he grabbed the vial.”

“When you put it that way… Now that I think about it, he didn’t hide his aura, his intentions. I sensed him before he shot.” said the dhampir.

“He still managed to injure you though.” said Maya, shaking his head.

“I don’t know why I behaved that way, I really don’t. I shouldn’t have…” muttered the brunet, looking away.

He knew he had done a huge mistake. He also knew that his friend disapproved of it, and it was completely normal. Why would he try to save the boy he was supposed to kill? It was foolish. If he had just thought about himself, like he always did, he wouldn’t have ended up poisoned, and he wouldn’t have ended up on the council’s black list. Maya wouldn’t be able to deny it if the brunet asked him about it, Ruki perfectly knew it.

He hissed as he felt something pierce his skin. He looked down and heaved a sigh.

“You couldn’t warn me?”

“It doesn’t change anything.” said Maya, concentrated on what he was doing.

Ruki huffed and watched as the syringe emptied itself. The cure didn’t look much like one, it was a green liquid that turned pink when it mixed with blood. That’s all Ruki knew. He didn’t really care about all the medical stuff, but Maya did. He had been working with the council’s doctors for a while already.

“Done.” said the blond, putting everything back in his bag.

“Good, now you can leave.”

Maya laughed in response, shaking his head.

“I’m not leaving, Ruki.”

Ruki stared at his friend, dumbfounded.

“I’m not going back, I don’t want to and you certainly will need help here. The council will try to kill you again.” explained the blond.

“But… Maya, you’re not a vampire.” frowned the dhampir.

“I touched one before getting in, though I forgot turning…”

Ruki face palmed at his friend’s words.

“Maya! You give off a hunter aura way stronger than mine!”

The blond hybrid cowered at the farthest edge of the bed, worried that he had angered his friend. He knew better than to angry him, Ruki was a completely different person when he lost his temper, he was like a beast, no doubt other hunters were scared of him. Ruki’s eyes had something in them that made people look everywhere but in them, they were afraid of being deprived of their souls, of becoming puppets in the dhampir hands. Maya had seen that happen once, never had he witnessed such a horrifying act. He’d rather be surrounded by blood and corpses than see that again. From what he knew, the girl never had recovered from Ruki’s deed. He had given her soul back, but she was broken, she could barely be considered as human afterwards. Was she even still alive?

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to see you, okay? We haven’t seen each other in months and I thought this was a great opportunity.” mumbled the blond.

“You didn’t think things through carefully!” growled Ruki.

“I know, I said I was sorry.”

“You’ll have to do more than apologise if you want me to forgive you.”

Maya looked up at the other to lock eyes with him. He opened his mouth just to close it as he noticed something in the other dark-blue eyes. He knew that look, lewd as hell, filled with lust. How could the dhampir change mood so quickly?

“Is this my only purpose? Satisfying you?” asked the blond, smirking.

“Are you going to complain? You’re the one who wanted to see me.” replied the brunet, crawling towards the blond.

The hybrid hummed.

“You’re going to give in anyway, be it now.” whispered the dhampir, reaching for the blond’s nape.

“You’re way too cocky.”

“You like me this way.” murmured the brunet before crashing his lips against the hybrid’s full ones.

Maya smiled in the kiss and pushed Ruki down on the bed, hovering over him without breaking their kiss.

“You should be thankful that my cure works fast.” he said before kissing him again.

“You could take me anyway.” chuckled the brunet.

Their kisses grew more feverish, Ruki’s fangs brushing against the blond’s tongue as they deepened their kiss, tearing each other’s clothes off at the same time. This had nothing to do with lovemaking, both perfectly knew that. Ruki needed to finally get some pleasure while Maya just had missed his body. They were driven by lust and want only, it had been this way for a few years already, it wouldn’t change. The brunet moaned loudly as the blond sheathed himself in him.

“Gods, didn’t you get anything the past few months?” groaned the blond, tilting his head back.

“Not like you’d complain about it.” replied the dhampir.

He wrapped his legs around his friend’s waist. He didn’t want to talk, there wasn’t anything to talk about anyway. He wanted to get lost in sheer pleasure, and Maya could bring him that.

“I wonder what your father would say if he saw us.” smirked the blond.

“Shut up and mo– _Aaah!_ ”

He was cut off by a hard thrust, he glared at the blond as the tall teenager kept on rolling his hips, his movements getting rougher at each thrust. Ruki wrapped his arms around the other’s neck and dragged him down to kiss him and to try to muffle his moans at the same time. He wasn’t the only one to be wanton here, that was for sure. Maya seemed almost desperate, his thrusts almost possessive. There was something wrong with him, the dhampir was quite sure of it, but he wouldn’t question it, not now at least.

✡✡✡

“Come on, I’m hungry and I want to see more of this school!”

The brunet rolled around in his bed, sighing at the same time. The blond having had his release, he somehow was behaving like a child now, which only was annoying the dhampir. He gasped as Maya sat on him, right on his bottom.

“Get off me, asshole!” he groaned.

“Not until you agree to go with me.” crooned the blond.

“You’re fucking kidding me…” muttered the brunet in his pillow.

He sighed and finally gave in, knowing it was useless to fight with the blond over such a trivial matter. The dhampir needed to eat anyway, he could feel that the poison and the sex had exhausted him, but he still needed to eat before going to sleep. He had to get something in his system, be it just blood. At this thought he looked at Maya as they were walking outside, heading to the cafeteria.

“You could just let me drink your blood, it would make it easier.” he said.

“Why? You’re already out so just get something to eat like anyone else.”

The brunet just huffed and walked faster. He should have thought about it earlier, this way he could have stayed in bed while Maya would eat and then feed him. He walked in the building and guided his blond friend to an empty table.

“We’re served, that’s how it works when you’re a noble, people do everything for you.” explained the brunet, noticing the confused look on Maya’s face.

“Wow, I could get used to such treatment.” chuckled the hybrid.

Ruki observed the other, analysing his appearance. Maya had finally turned into a vampire. His fangs were actually so long that you could see the tips of his upper canines when he closed the mouth, it looked kind of cute, although the dhampir wasn’t certain about how it would feel to have those biting him. His brown eyes were slightly reddish now, although there was still some golden sparks, typical of hunters’ eyes. Besides those two changes, he still looked the same. His aura had changed too, of course, but he hadn’t met much people until now so no one would notice anything abnormal about the blond hunter.

“You’re healed.”

The brunet turned around. He barely nodded before turning back to Maya. He didn’t want to talk to Aoi right now, he first had to find himself back. Ruki felt like he had lost himself the moment he had entered this school, his mistake from last night being the only proof he needed. Unfortunately for him, Aoi didn’t seem to share his opinion, as the raven-haired vampire sat next to him.

“You don’t give off the same aura as earlier.” said the noble, frowning as he looked at Maya.

“So?” simply replied the blond.

“You should be careful, you don’t want the teachers or the headmaster to know that you’re a hunter.”

Ruki gaped at the raven, not believing what he had just heard. The pierced teenager was staring defiantly at the hybrid, the corners of his lips slightly twitching upwards, as if he was keeping himself from smiling. The brunet was shocked by the other’s behaviour, was he really threatening them?

“Is this a threat?” asked the blond, remaining composed.

There was no hint of the childish hunter Ruki had to deal with a few minutes earlier. Right now Maya behaved exactly how he would as a hunter, he was cold and seemed undisturbed by what was happening. He was wearing a mask, one that he had built over the years of such a demanding and merciless lifestyle.

“Just a warning.” replied the raven.

The brunet observed the raven as he stood up and left without another glance at them. He gulped and locked eyes with Maya.

“You can’t do anything anymore, they already know what we are.” sighed the blond, massaging his temples.

Ruki closed his eyes and laid his head on the table.

“I should just go home and get killed, it would be much more easier.” he muttered.

“Don’t think like this, Ruki, we’ll manage to get through this, you’ll see.”

No matter how positive Maya sounded, it didn’t help the dhampir to feel better. He had screwed up, and now he didn’t see a way to get out of this alive, Aoi and his friends knowing what they truly were. No matter what came to his mind to try to find a solution, everything always ended with his death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just don't know what happened to me, but yeah, I ended up writing some Maya/Ruki... I'm sorry, ahah...  
> Besides this, what did you think? I need to get the hang of things back, it's been a while, but I think I'll write for RED more often.
> 
> Comments are always appreciated ~

**Author's Note:**

> Physically I imagine Ruki kind of like [_this_](http://pre15.deviantart.net/753b/th/pre/f/2010/199/4/1/ruki_shiver_by_ny_x.jpg).


End file.
